The Only Way Wasn't Essex - Brown Confident That Hampshire Are Moving Forward

That was likely the major takeaway from Hampshire's two-wicket defeat to Somerset at the Utilita Bowl.

However, captain Ben Brown believes the game was lost—not on Monday in the bright West End spring sunshine, but on Friday, when Hampshire blew a solid start to hand the advantage to the visitors.

With the exception of two separate spells on Saturday and Sunday, when Hampshire looked capable of batting the visitors out of the game, Somerset clung on stubbornly, never giving an inch.

It paid off.

When The Hawk spoke to Jimmy Adams before Saturday's play, Hampshire's assistant coach said he felt the side was 50 or 60 runs short of a par first innings.

"We started well—great intent—but needed to convert one or two of the partnerships," said Adams. "There were lots of 20 or 30-run partnerships, but we needed to turn one of those into 50-plus to really shift the game our way."

They were prescient words from the former Hampshire skipper.

"He was spot on," says Brown. "It was a top game of cricket, but it obviously feels very flat to come out of it on the wrong side.

"I don't think we batted well on the first day at all. That's something we really need to work on.

"We fought our way into the game pretty well but, when it boils down to it, we could have won that game.

"It comes down to tiny margins. We went toe-to-toe with a very good side."

Brown bemoaned an LBW appeal against the excellent Tom Abell shortly after lunch, which went the way of the 32-year-old.

It was a rare blemish from the centurion, whose batting was exemplary across both Somerset innings.

The same could be said of James Rew, who comfortably out-batted Hampshire's own batting prodigy, Ben Mayes.

Brown, meanwhile, continued his promising run of early-season form, adding 66 in the second innings to follow his superb, match-turning unbeaten century against Yorkshire at Headingley.

Although the season is only three matches old, there is a sense that Hampshire have come a long way in April.

"We didn't get going against Essex at all, but over the last eight days of cricket, we've put in two good performances," he says.

"There are areas we can tighten up—of course there are—but we shouldn't be too down after this game."

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